Can You Make Your Favourite Foods Healthier?

December 22, 2016

You don't have to feel guilty digging into that pizza! Nutritionist Kohila Govindaraju suggests ways of reducing calories of your favourite foods and making them wholesome and healthy. Check out the calorie counts!

Wholesome Pizza

Everyone loves pizza. But mind you…it can be a sinister source of calories and fats. Is there any way of giving it a nutritional upgrade, instead of ruthlessly banishing it as junk food?

Yes definitely. You can make your pizza a whole lot healthier by making some nutritional adjustments and loading up on your toppings wisely.

Bake your pizza with more vegetables, wholegrain dough and low-fat cheese, like mozzarella (for 100g of skimmed version, you get roughly 15g of fat that is divided into 8 servings/slices).

Load up the whole grain crust with seafood (16 shrimps) or minced meat (200g minced chicken or beef) with more vegetables & fruits (200g) like tomatoes, bell pepper, onions, mushrooms, spinach, cucumbers, basil, olives, pineapples, kiwis. The more the vegetables, at least five vegetables and two fruits with minced meat, the healthier your pizza will be. The fiber from the vegetables will keep you full with just one slice of the pizza but the taste remains in for longer hours.

Barley fried rice is a fantastic dish that controls the insulin spike. Swap white rice for barley and enjoy the dish with chicken or beef or chickpeas. One serving of barley is cup-cooked (157g) gives 193 calories. A teaspoon of olive oil or sesame oil adds great flavour.

1 cup of cooked barley with:

30g minced beef and 50g vegetables gives you 375 calories

30g chicken and 50g vegetables gives you 354 calories

30g of chick peas and 50g vegetables gives you 329 calories.

This can be a well-balanced meal. A small apple or orange or 10 grapes or low-fat yogurt could make it complete.

The following are examples of foods with low calories, low sodium and low fat but loaded with more nutrients, to keep you fit.

To make your meal healthier focus more on whole meal, lean protein, healthy fats, fiber, low-fat dairy, fruits and vegetables and nuts. Cooking meat with equal amount of vegetables is a great idea to keep you full for longer. For example, French beans with diced chicken an excellent vegetable with meat dish for dinner. For a vegetarian option instead of chicken either bean curd or mushrooms can make a complete dish.